By: Naa Dzagbley Ago
Stakeholders within the Civil Society Organizations, CSOs Platform on Education have sent a SOS to government to as a matter of urgency have a relook at the country’s basic education. According to the group, the conditions under which these schools are being run leaves much to be desired.
The group notes that since Ghana began implementing the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education, (FCUBE) policy some 18 years ago, with the aim of ensuring all citizens of basic school-going age enroll and complete basic school with relevant learning outcomes without financial barriers, there still exist significant access and quality deficits in the delivery of basic education, the drivers of which impact negatively on the work of teachers and learning outcomes.
Presenting an eighteen point challenges of how these deficits are manifesting in various dimensions, Convener of CSOs Platform on SDG Four, Joyce Larnyo said there is a high number of out of school children.
This she stated was evident in data from the Ghana Statistical Service, where about one million children aged 4-18 are not in school, representing about 10 per cent of the age cohort.
This, is primarily due to the lack of public basic schools in underserved communities, even as the population increases. She noted that at least two thousand new basic schools are required to absorb the out-of-school children into formal basic schools.
However, given the current rate of constructing new schools, this may take the next ten years to accomplish.
“Between 2015 and 2021, public basic schools grew by 12 per cent with private schools growing by 68 per cent. In the medium term 2018-2021, only an average of 0.8 primary schools were constructed each year per district. The slow growth of public schools, due to the lack of adequate investment in basic school infrastructure suggests government is shifting the responsibility of providing free compulsory universal basic education to the private sector, which is beyond the financial reach of the poor. This, among others, accounts for the high number of out-of-school children,” she added.
The group expressed worry about the poor financing of Basic education, untimely disbursement of the capitation grant, poor financing for feeding grants and non-payment of utility bills in basic schools. These, coupled with other challenges Madam Joyce Larnyo noted requires urgent attention as failure to find lasting solutions would lead to continuous reduction in enrolment at the basic school level.
She said, “the poor disbursement of the Capitation Grant has compelled many schools to shift the cost of running basic schools to parents. Though unsustainable, some of these unintended costs include the cost of conducting examinations and utilities. In some schools, parents are even required to pay for school desks, or bring same, as a condition for admitting their wards. This is because, there are no funds to maintain broken desks or produce new ones.
While teachers are mindful of the ban on fees, in the absence of funds for running schools, without parental contributions, education service delivery at the basic level will pose a grave
challenge.”
The stakeholders made up of Star Ghana Foundation, ActionAid, Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition, World Vision, Africa Education Watch, Civil Society Organizations Platform on SDGs, CAMFED, Ghana National Association of Teachers, ICDP and CCT however recommended that government must release all arrears on the Capitation Grant to end the imposition of various forms of fees on pupils.
The Grant, Madam Larnyo said must be increased to absorb the cost of utilities, with automatic annual adjustments instituted in line with inflationary trends.
“The government must disburse approved funds for financing arrears and the current cost of
feeding in special schools and under the Ghana School Feeding programme. Additional
allocations must be made in the 2023 supplementary budget to augment the inadequacies,” she added.
